Contact Details

Professor Lorne Crerar

HIE Chairman

Professor Lorne Crerar

Term on HIE Board
Lorne joined the Board of HIE in April 2008 and was appointed Chairman in March 2012.

External positions
Lorne is a founding partner and Chairman of leading Scottish commercial law firm Harper Macleod LLP, which has offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness, Lerwick and Thurso. From its very small beginnings Lorne has built a practice which is one of the largest in Scotland and comprises 72 Partners with a total compliment of 402. HM became a Living Wage employer in 2015 and recently won the CSR award at the Scottish Business Awards.

He held the Chair of Banking Law at Glasgow University from 1997 until his retirement in August 2015. He is now Emeritus Professor of Banking Law. Lorne has broad experience of public sector operations. He was formerly Deputy Chairman of Scottish Enterprise Glasgow and one of three Chairmen of the Housing Improvement Task Force with his group completing their work in 2002. He is generally credited as the architect of the Home Report System in Scotland. He was appointed as Convener of the Standards Commission in June 2003 (under the Ethical Standards in Public Life (Scotland Act 2000). Lorne resigned from this office in September 2006 to take up the Chair of the 'Independent Review of Regulation, Audit, Inspection and Complaints Handling of Public Services in Scotland' which reported in September 2007. Lorne was a non-Executive Director of the Scottish Government Justice Programme Board until November 2010.

Personal profile
Lorne lives much of his time in Wester Ross, helping to cement a family connection with the area which stretches back to the beginning of the 20th Century. Although he spends much of his working life in Glasgow he says he is more than happy to make the 500 mile round-trip to be able to spend time in the Highlands. He is interested in most sports and is currently the Chairman of Discipline for the Scottish Rugby Union, 6Nations and European Rugby Cup. He was involved as a Judicial Officer for the Rugby World Cup 2015.